Mahwah School Nurse Helps Save Drowning 6-Year-Old

When Mahwah resident and Ramapo Ridge school nurse Donna Ciongoli took a day trip with her sons, sisters, and nephews last month, she wasn’t expecting a life-changing experience. But, she got one thanks to a 6-year-old she’d never met before.

Ciongoli had originally planned to take a daytrip to the Jersey Shore on July 20. But, rain in the forecast prompted her and her family members to opt for a closer beach experience, at Lake Wawayanda in Vernon.

“It had turned out to be a beautiful day, so the beach was really crowded,” Ciongoli told Patch Monday.

The pediatric nurse had just returned to the beach from the water after noon when she saw a young boy being carried from the water.

“He was completely blue, a royal blue almost,” she said. “He was not breathing and he had no pulse whatsoever.”

Ciongoli said she and two strangers – another nurse and a firefighter from East Orange – immediately jumped to help lifeguards treat the boy.

Using equipment from the lake’s emergency response team, the trio performed CPR, and shocked the boy with a defibrillator, she said. Another man on the beach, a retired EMT, intubated the boy to remove water from his body.

“We got a pulse back after one [AED] shock” Ciongoli said. “It took about 15 minutes. More and more water kept coming out of him.”

According to a report from NJ.com, the boy was airlifted to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Paterson where he was admitted in critical condition. Authorities do not know what caused the boy’s near-drowning, or exactly how long he was under water, the report said.

“The boy was [at the beach] with his uncle, his parents weren’t there,” Ciongoli said. “I saw [the uncle] when the helicopter got there, and he just started crying. He said he hadn’t called the boy’s father yet, and that he didn’t know what to tell him.”

Ciongoli said she helped talk the uncle through the phone call, and the boy’s parents met him at the hospital.

“After the helicopter left, the most amazing thing happened,” Ciongoli said. “I went over to my family, and we all started praying. And, I looked around and I was amazed at how many other people on the beach were doing exactly the same thing. There were so many people there pulling for that little boy that day.”

The boy, whose identity has not been released, got out of the hospital on July 27 – exactly one week after he went in, NJ.com reported. According to Ciongoli, he suffered no permanent mental or physical injuries from the incident.

This past Wednesday, Ciongoli and a few of the other beachgoers who helped save the boy met him for the first time.

“He came up to me and just hugged me for a good two minutes,” she said. “His father hugged me, and kept saying that we’d be lifelong friends.” Ciongoli and the other helpers are set to return back to the family’s home later this month for a celebration of the boy’s seventh birthday.

“He is a great little boy, and I’ve actually become good friends with the firefighter. These people are in my life now,” she said. “I’m not letting these guys go.”

In addition to her connections with the other affected families, Ciongoli said the unexpected event has “changed,” her. The nurse, who has worked at Ramapo Ridge for four years, and has been a pediatric nurse in doctors’ offices, hospitals and other facilities for the past 14 years, said she has never had an experience like this while not at work.

“This one especially hit close to home because the boy is the same age as my youngest son,” she said.

“I feel like he was put in my life for a reason, I learned a lot from this little boy,” Ciongoli continued. 

“It really made me realize that everything can get done later. I was going too fast. I needed to slow down, and spend more time with my kids, because you never know what’s going to happen. It just made everything more simple to me.”